“What’s wrong with a leader going out to attract capital investment?” Babauta asked.
But he said he’s sure “there’s a lot of legal work that would have to go into something like that.”
He added, “We’ll certainly look into it and see what authorities kind of underlie that sort of comment, if that’s something that’s even possible.”
Babauta said “we want to talk to the governor about it. But I’m not going to critique whatever he said wherever he was without knowing more about it.”
Fitial, who was in China last week, was quoted as telling investors: “If you are interested, I am offering these islands to China,” referring to the Northern Islands.
These are the mostly uninhabited volcanic islands of Anatahan, Sarigan, Pagan, Alamagan, Agrigan, Guguan, Asuncion, Maug and Parallon de Pajaros.
Pagan, Alamagan and Agrigan used to be inhabited by more than a hundred locals but almost all of them now reside on Saipan, including their mayor.
